Brain dysconnectivity patterns associated with chronic back pain development.

Abstract

Chronic back pain often emerges from a transitional period of subacute pain, yet no clinically applicable biomarker exists to identify which patients are at risk for chronification. Evidence suggests that this transition is driven not only by nociceptive input but by changes in brain networks involved in valuation, emotion regulation, and learning. Here, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and machine learning to explore whether dysconnectivity in these networks is associated with later development of chronic back pain. We analyzed functional connectivity in 46 patients with subacute back pain and 43 healthy controls from a publicly available longitudinal cohort, classifying patients one year later as either recovered or chronified based on pain outcomes. A data-driven model identified a set of six brain regions whose patterns of dysconnectivity distinguished the two patient trajectories with an area under the curve of 0.87. These regions encompass prefrontal, temporal, and somatosensory hubs implicated in reinforcement learning, avoidance behavior, and pain catastrophizing, suggesting a potential link between dysconnectivity patterns and psychological processes implicated in pain persistence. Based on these features, we introduced an exploratory rs-fMRI-based marker for pain chronification, suggesting potential prognostic relevance that requires independent validation before clinical stratification or targeted intervention can be considered.